


Suffering on Naboo

by NeverTheNess



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon Compliant, Comrade Friend - Freeform, Darth Vader - Freeform, Death, F/M, Galactic Empire, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Imperial Officers (Star Wars), Mournful Darth Vader, Nameless Protagonist, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Paying Respects, Planet Naboo (Star Wars), Post-Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Sheev Palpatine - Freeform, Sith Empire, stormtroopers - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-20
Updated: 2020-05-20
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:02:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24289372
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeverTheNess/pseuds/NeverTheNess
Summary: I saw firsthand the suffering of Naboo, as the Empire invaded and began to instate its power. I was a royal guard, tasked with guarding Queen Amidala's tomb while the battle raged outside.Everyone on that day suffered. Including a black-cloaked monster that I came face to face with.
Relationships: Nameless Protagonist & Comrade, Padmé Amidala/Anakin Skywalker | Darth Vader
Kudos: 5





	Suffering on Naboo

Many would describe the Empire’s Siege on Naboo to be a fearful day. A terrifying, unrelenting day of Stormtroopers, ear-piercing TIE Fighters, and looming Star Destroyers overhead. For me, a guard who protects the royal family and council of Naboo for as long as I can remember, I would use another word to describe that fateful day. 

That word would be heart-wrenching. 

Before the Siege, I was a royal guardsmen, whose sworn duty was to protect and serve the Royal Council. Yet, I had been a young and naive man. I had no honor to be with the family, and dare I say no respect for their authoritative rule. Even during the Clone Wars, where they kept promising their subjects that there will be peace and prosperity soon, they had no such effort in keeping these promises, nor the planet safe from any threat of war. Queen Amidala rarely did visit the palace, even when us guardsmen had cleaned every godforsaken inch to satisfy their needs. 

Yet, when it was announced that Amidala had passed, and that politics were handled directly by the “Galactic Empire,” I couldn’t help but feel something had gone horribly wrong. Like most others, I didn’t know how the Empire came about. Some say that Palpatine had gone mad with power, and that this was a last ditch effort to immortalize his presence. Others had said that this was meant to happen, and that the Empire was an inevitability in the making. For me, the biggest piece of news that threw me off was when the Jedi were branded as traitors. The Jedi - peacekeepers who many of my peers idolized and strived to be like them one day - were announced as traitorous snakes, and were being hunted throughout several star systems by the clones that had once served them. 

Then, the most substantial news that had left shockwaves across the galaxy afterwards: Palpatine had a new apprentice. This apprentice made everyone’s hearts cold with fear, and petrified star systems whenever it was announced that he was about to visit. It was that black-cloaked shadow that some dare not even mention his name at all. Even the Naboo council never referred to his name, simply calling him “The Emperor’s Apprentice.” Darth Vader was never a figure that I had feared before, as I knew that I could have never been face-to-face with such a machine. 

At least, that’s what I thought. 

The Naboo Siege was almost a swift effort. No matter how prepared we were for an invasion from the Empire, no matter how equipped our troops were to stand against them, we had no winning chance. Thousands of Naboo starfighters took off, and millions of their TIEs combatted ours. They laid horrifying waste to them all. Monstrous AT-AT walkers approached the city, and soon the palace. Each booming step sounded like a ticking clock; for every step, another second passed until our destruction. Every man was dispatched to defend any ground they could, yet almost all of them had failed. Even those who survived to this day knew in their hearts that they had no winning chance. 

I could not say what the battle had looked like. Miraculously, I was ordered to stay behind by my superiors, to protect Queen Amidala’s tomb. I was accompanied by another comrade of mine, though what his name was, I had no recollection. We stood, spears in hand, the rain pouring down on us. The battle around us grew to an almost deafening crescendo. At this point in time, I could not have cared for the Royal Council any longer, nor Naboo, or even my comrade next to me. I only had one thought: _please, god, let me get out of here._

Then, I saw him. 

That shadow of darkness, the feared “Iron Fist” of the Empire began to climb up the stairs to the tomb chapel. The stories that I had heard about him - how his stature was gigantic, the stare from his helmet lenses that pierced your soul - all became true the moment I saw him reach the top. His cloak shielded switches and buttons on his chest, and his helmet was a sight I had never even seen before. It looked to me as if the thing I saw was another coffin that carried… something with a soul or consciousness. 

Amidst the adrenaline that pumped through me, and my fear that rose to a ludicrous degree, I noticed a few things about Vader. For one, there were no soldiers or officers besides him, which was an odd sight. For someone who had already gained a strong reputation, wouldn’t you want guards to accompany you from being killed? Many called me crazy at the next observation, but Vader himself looked almost scarily _docile_. I had not seen myself if he had participated in the slaughter, but as he reached the top of the staircase to Amidala’s grave, he seemed almost uninterested in either me or my comrade. 

He seemed focused on something else entirely. 

On instinct, my comrade sprinted with a war-cry of sorts towards the Dark Lord. I yelled for him to come back, but it was of no use. From his belt, he also withdrew his blaster and fired three rounds at Vader. All three times the blaster bolts missed, before I was left speechless at Vader’s swift, destructive actions. 

My comrade’s body was lifted into the air, and brought to him almost instantaneously. He struggled in Vader’s invisible grasp, as his hands were around his throat, struggling to breathe. Vader had not even touched him, but I knew right away that he was choking the hell out of him. I had no idea of what to do, as my mind scrambled to think of some type of flimsy plan to rescue him. Before I could think any further, Vader had choked all the life out of him, and flung my comrade aside with careless effort. His helmet soon shifted to stare at me. 

I was the only person in the way of his goal. I was too scared to speak, and too frozen to raise my spear, or my blaster. It was like I had been encapsulated in an ice cube on Hoth, and I was sure to be dead in moments. 

Yet, that moment never came. In fact, recollecting on this now, I still can’t describe what had happened, or how I survived. 

Vader ominously walked towards me, as I threw my staff aside and raised my hands in surrender. Honor and glory in death were not the first things on my mind when faced with the Lord of Darkness, and I expected to have a fate similar to my comrade. Instead, Vader ignored me almost entirely, as he slowed his progress towards the tomb. I lowered my hands to my chest, to still keep an appearance of surrendering, before I lowered them entirely. I noticed his sights were not set on me anymore, but rather the tomb of the beautifully carved woman in front of him. 

As the battle raged on behind us, and as the rain continued to pour, it grew almost to a silence between us. I felt as if my heart was in my throat, as my hands still shook from the terror and adrenaline in my veins. Vader, on the other hand, was still and unmoving. After a bit of time had passed, his gloved hand touched the face and cheek of Amidala, and everything grew still. I watched, as I steadied my breath when I realized he was not interested in me specifically. Yet, at the same time, I couldn’t help but feel a degree of sadness that was present within Vader. 

From all those I have spoken to, nobody had any idea who Vader really was besides his appearance. Yet, as I observed his thumb caressing the carving of the woman, I couldn’t help but feel pity towards whoever he was. Was he always like this from the start? 

Or, perhaps, was he just another man that was forced into an unfortunate situation, and lost everything? 

“Do you know anything about Queen Amidala?” Vader demanded. 

His voice snapped me awake from my trance on him, as my knees grew weak once more. I had to answer this right, in the moment, or else it could’ve spelled my doom. I regained my composure, and took in a deep breath. “I only know of her status as a politician,” I answered without haste. “An honorable one, at that. Served in the Clone Wars, and I also believe she was married to…” 

My mind drew a blank. I couldn’t remember the name to the man she was revealed to be married to. I stuttered, before Vader raised his hand to me, and I closed my mouth completely. He was not interested to hear my factoid about her. After a few moments, he retracted his hand, and raised his helmet to observe me. I could see his red-lenses on his helmet, and part of me thought that those represented such… hatred or sorrow that I couldn’t even describe. Who was this thing? What has he become? 

As Vader observed me, I heard several footsteps come up to the chapel. Stormtroopers and Imperial personnel stormed the area to provide aid to Vader. Several raised their blasters at me, as I once again raised my arms as high as I could to show surrender. 

Vader, however, did not flinch or move when they had arrived. Instead, he did something that once again surprised me, and had perplexed me for the longest time. 

He spoke three simple words to me. For years after the incident, almost sometimes for full days, I had pondered about why he said these words to me. People had told me not to read too deep into his words, but I still could not help but be puzzled as to what he meant. 

_“Guard her well.”_

With a spin of his cape, Vader beckoned the other Imperial personnel out of the chapel doors. They all had followed him by his side, as I watched them exit before running out to watch them go. It had not occurred to me yet that the Siege of Naboo had already concluded, and it had been reinstated under Empire control. Yet, I was not concerned with that at the time. I had thought about nothing else, but simply one question: _what had just happened?_

As I saw Vader and his troops depart back onto their Star Destroyer, as they blasted off from the planet, I felt a weighing sadness in my heart. I was not saddened at the loss of our soldiers in battle. I was not saddened by Naboo being taken by the Empire. 

I was saddened at the sight I saw. I was saddened of someone in their own coffin, as they looked onto the coffin of another, of what I could only assume to be a loved one of theirs. As Vader took his leave, the years went by without too much issue. Naboo was a dreary place to be a part of, assuming you were not inside the palace itself. Unlike the other guardsmen, who were either killed or fired to be replaced after the Siege, I remained the sole surviving member of the previous royal guardsman. 

I remembered the Siege of Naboo. I remembered that beforehand, I had no respect for the royal family or council in any way at all. Now, it all changed. I remembered my encounter with Vader himself. To this day, I heed his words carefully, and take my position with pride. I protect the tomb of Amidala well every moment of every day, and also mourn of what - or who - Lord Vader was beforehand. 

Before he had turned into a feared monster of the Empire.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, everyone! Thank you for taking the time to read this story! This was an impulsive story at first, and I touched up on it later, and I think that this is a nice one-shot piece of displaying Anakin's humanity after the Empire had collapsed. Even when he had lost the woman near and dear to him, when the Empire had started controlling other planets under their rule, he still took the time to pay her respects, all the while _not_ losing the terrifying aspect of himself in the process. Anakin's character is full of tragedy, and this one-shot displays part of that perfectly. Not all of it, but just enough to show that, deep down, he once cared too deeply. And that had cost him greatly.
> 
> Also, two main things: A) I'm not 100% sure if this is canon, so I made this canon-compliant, but if it is not, I'll adjust the tags accordingly. And B) if someone else had made a story similar to this one, I do want to say that I had no intention of copying or stealing another idea. This was purely for fun, and to experiment with vocabulary and tone. This is my first big Star Wars fic I'm sharing, so I do hope you guys enjoyed it.
> 
> Anyways, please take care everyone, and remember to stay awesome! :D


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